Tags

Derik, Syria – Since the partial withdrawal of the Syrian security forces from Syria’s northern areas in summer of 2012, and the domination of Assayish forces and Popular Protection Units (YPG) –linked to the Democratic Union Party (PYD)– the phenomenon of abduction wept these areas.

The city of Derik in the far noreast saw several cases of kidnapping during the last two years. Ariyos Mahmoud Ali, a young Kurdish resident of Derik, was the first victim of kidnapping in Syria’s Kurdish-populated areas. A masked group kidnapped him from al-Mansora Dam road on 9 October 2012, and “escaped” on month later.

Speaking to ARA News, Ariyos emphasized that the masked group was linked to PYD. He also talked about his experience saying: “I was moved to the prison of the border village of Ain Diwar for ten days then was taken with the activist Azad Atta to the prison of the so-called Scientific Experiments Center in Zagat village in the suburbs of Derik, where we were tortured in different ways including electric shocks. They (kidnappers) never explained the reasons behind all what we went through.”

Being the head and active member of the Kurdish Youth Coordination in Derik, Atta was kidnapped a week after Ariyos, also by a masked group in a grey car type “Kia Cerato “, while he was heading to a protest in the city center. Atta was moved to Ain Diwar prison and then, with Ariyos, to a prison in Zagat village, according to his friends who talked to ARA News and prefrred anonymity for security concerns.

On Nov. 17, 2012, Azad and Ariyos were able to escape from the Scientific Experiments Center’s prison, which was controlled by the Popular Protection Units (YPG), then crossed the borders into Iraqi Kurdistan.

Bahzad Dorsun, prominent Kurdish politician and member of the political office of the Kurdish Democratic Party in Syria (al-Dimoqrati), disappeared in the city of Derik on Nov. 24, 2012.

According to his fellow politicians, Dorsun was heading to the Iraqi Kurdistan for an official visit, but was kidnapped along with another member of the Kurdish Demcratic Party,Nedal Salim, at a YPG-held checkpoint, two kilometers away from the Iraqi-Syrian borders. Dorsun’s and Salim’s destiny is still anonymous, despite of some rumors about being arrested by the regime, as well as the press statements of Reber Wahid, a Syrian singer of Kurdish origin (who has close ties with the regime), saying that he is “working on releasing Dorsun” without any reference to his place or the arresting perpetrator.

For more than a year, the kidnapping stopped in Derik until it came back in May this year, where Azad Sherzad Dawood, 31-year-old Kurdish resident of Derik, was kidnapped while returning back home from a cafe net after midnight by a grey BMW car in Ain Diwar Street, an eyewitness reported. After two days, his parents discovered that he was detained by the Assaiysh forces, his relatives told ARA News. In the trial, a witness told the details of the kidnapping operation but the Assayish still denies that.

Another case was the kidnapping of Mohamad Eid Haji, a 40-year-old clerk in the census department and the father of six children -two of them are handicapped. According to his parents, a group of four masked men kidnapped him in front of his house near the city market on May 17, 2014.

Similar kidnapping incidents took place in other cities in Hasaka province such as Qamishli and Darbasiyah, such as the case of Amir Hamid, young Kurdish civil activist from Darbasiyah, who disappeared four months ago. Hamid’s parents accused the Assayish forces of kidnapping their 27-year-old son. However, the Assayish denied the accusations.